Anxiety over changing JEE grips students

Vasudha Venugopal puts her training as an engineering student to good use, as she examines higher education institutions and policy. She also adores the world of Hindi cinema. Follow her on Twitter @v...
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With a fortnight left for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) that determines admissions to Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), a sense of anxiety is prevalent among the hundreds of IIT aspirants in the city, who may be the last batch to take the the test in its current pattern.

As per current JEE rules, a student can attempt the examination twice, once when he is in class XII and again, a year later. But with the recent proposal of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to have a common entrance examination for all IITs, National Institutes of Technology (NITs) and Indian Institute of Science, this might change. The IIT council has proposed that a weightage of 40 per cent be given to class XII marks, and has recommended that students be evaluated with questions on aptitude, comprehension and critical thinking and advanced examination, besides testing them on physics, mathematics and chemistry.

With talks of several such changes doing the rounds, students, understandably, have their share of anxieties. A class XII student of Vidya Mandir, who aspires to get into IIT- Madras, is worried about what will happen if he does not get a good rank this year and the new pattern is implemented. “My school marks will not be that great because my entire focus is on JEE. If I have to take the exam again next year, I stand to lose, with inadequate school grades,” he said. “This year, to get into IIT- Madras, I have to get into the first 100 ranks, but getting in is made even more difficult because most students from Andhra Pradesh, especially all the high-scoring ones usually opt for it . I would ideally want to wait and take the exam again, but considering the confusion over the proposed changes, I will take any IIT admission that comes my way,” he said.

Nearly five lakh students are expected to take the exam on April 8, as compared to the 4.86 lakh in 2011, of which nearly 8,583 students are in Tamil Nadu. The largest pool of applications this year has come from Kanpur, followed by Andhra Pradesh from the Madras zone that comprises the four southern states and Pondicherry.

Even as the buzz around a likely change in the JEE pattern is growing by the day, it looks like the proposed common test will not be free of hiccups. .

Some states are worried that the new pattern will exclude students from rural areas. Officials from the Higher Education Department of Tamil Nadu have asked for time to analyse the pattern of the test and decide if it will suit students of the State. Even the IITs in Kanpur and Delhi have disapproved of the way the Ministry has been pushing for the changes. Recently, the All-India IIT Faculty Federation that has teachers from all IITs as members strongly opposed the proposed changes on grounds that the reforms would prevent students with high aptitudes and knowledge from getting in.

Shobana Mohan, a physics teacher at a city school said since there was very little clarity on the rules, aspirants were in the dark as to what should they focus on if they were not able to get a good rank this year. Similarly, others who are starting their preparations now are also unsure. “Will their marks in both class XI and class XII be considered and how difficult will the technical questions get, or should they start focusing on aptitude and comprehension now?” she asked.

Over the years, the JEE pattern has become simpler so that it can be more accessible to students, say trainers, especially with negative marking being removed from sections such as reasoning and matrices as seen last year. But the unpredictability still remains, particularly on how many of the topics come from class XI and class XII.

“I would ask them to focus on this year's test alone. Expect surprises, think logically and don't try to conquer the question paper like you do in the board exam. If the paper is easy, it will become more difficult to qualify,” says K. Ravi, a trainer. “The attempt should be to get into the best 10,000s, because next year, the pattern might change, and the ones wanting to attempt the examination again, might have to prepare for a new pattern all over again,” he added.

each n every board have a great difference of pattern n results..
in dis condition 12th % doent look a better idea..
overall..whatever decision is going to b taken..
it must b taken very early because these are the students who have to prepare for the ezam,,so how to prepare depends much on how the pattern will b...final decision must be out soon..??

from:
paridhi

Posted on: Jun 9, 2012 at 14:51 IST

I dont not underastand the weightage issue. Even now and all these years the board marks are considered for admission to the IITs so why do people keep saying students neglect board exams? Without getting 60% in Boards students cannot enter IITs so what is this weightage about? What new thing has it achieved and how is it different. Someone please clarify.

from:
Kavita

Posted on: Apr 23, 2012 at 10:12 IST

@Satya : yeah IIT's do have online video lectures like that of MIT OCW.
they are all posted in the NPTEL site.

from:
Amrit

Posted on: Apr 16, 2012 at 14:40 IST

I totally agree with Joshi Philip. It has become a trend that Students would miss the School for class XII and would so called start for the JEE preparations emphasizing that JEE is way too important than class XII. That should not be the case.

The statement by Mr.Mahesh that board exams are all about mugging seems too biased. Are we sure that coaching institutes don't emphasis on the same?

In my opinion the coaching institutes create a havoc for Students loading them with extensive mugging in addition to XII syllabus. This is cruel. While the government is finally trying to improve the situation by reducing the pressure from the Students the obstinate would certainly deny the efforts.

We shall expect the ideal situation when a student who studies hard at XII would eventually get into good Institution without studying specifically for entrance test. But after all its Personal opinion !

from:
Amber Rastogi

Posted on: Apr 7, 2012 at 12:14 IST

Whatever changes that are appropriate shall be made but at least 2 years before so that the upcoming class-11 batch knows how to start its preparations .The change should not be brought all of a sudden. I am presently in class-12 and all this chaos is keeping me and all my batch mates in a state of dilemma

from:
sankalp

Posted on: Mar 31, 2012 at 13:15 IST

I Think its an awsome move by MHRD/ IITs to change the present pattern. The marks in class XII are very important as it ensures that the students master the fundamentlas.this will being a paradigm shift in relying on coaching centres for cracking the JEE and not attending schools. However the aspirants who does not make it to the IITs this year will be in deep trouble as they might not have concentrated in scoring high marks in clss XII. As such these kind of policy changes must be brought into the public domain at least a year or two before actually impleminting them to avoid such embarrassments.

from:
Joshi Philip

Posted on: Mar 27, 2012 at 07:41 IST

Giving weightage to board marks will be disaster. It will give boost to mafias in arranging scores. Checking of board papers is never accurate. Supreme Court has already struck down subjectivity in CBSE PMT entrance exams. Based on same logic, it is sstrange how Mr. Sibal is going to ensure fairness and accuracy in evaluation of board papers. After each board exams, lacs of students approach for revaluation. RTI applications seeking answershets will be filed by students. The result will be in mess...
If Sibal wants to force upon his idea , then let there be a trial run.. he should not play with the careers of the students...

from:
Ravi Khanna

Posted on: Mar 27, 2012 at 00:27 IST

Firstly, English should not be included in IIT-JEE because generally students from english medium schools will get advantage . Secondly , Result of class XI & XII shouldn't be considered as it is well known that in India, different state has different education system . If we just consider CBSE & ICSE , students of same standard get different % of marks. Without providing same educational infrastructure to every state , it would be a foolish decision to change in IIT-JEE pattern.

from:
John Roy

Posted on: Mar 26, 2012 at 18:15 IST

I believe it is a good change, something similar to the SATs and GRE.If you look at the problem an above average Indian student may get into an IVY league today but not into IITs. This pattern will also help them prepare for other such tests which opens the gateway to other opportunities. Nice job Sibbal ji..

from:
tanay

Posted on: Mar 26, 2012 at 17:41 IST

The JEE is meant to identify people brilliant in physics, maths, chemistry not someone who speaks good english and understands what foreigners say. Anyone who is so brilliant as to get into an IIT (no bar on gender, class etc) if found to be inadequate in english or comprehension must be given remedial courses to come upto speed on this. The HRD minister would do well to know that anyone can learn english if tought properly but not everyone can do well in M,P,C if he/she does not have the aptitude or has worked hard for it.
Kapil Sibal is another Digvijay singh who is out to set back India several decades. The only place that we can beat all countries are in the stringency of our exams and the brilliant people we churn out every year. Kapil Sibal is out to destroy the loftiness and respect of IITs. He should be removed immediately.

from:
kiran

Posted on: Mar 26, 2012 at 11:06 IST

It is very sad to see the changes proposed by ministry is going to suit only the students from good schools and do not give the fair chance to the students of rural part of the nation. Most importantly how they are going to assess the students of different boards to come under common roof, as the examination pattern and grading system of each individual board is different. Definitely change is necessary to rule out the overcrowded coaching institutes, but that must come to the cost of students who can not afford to have better schooling(Good Schools). I think that giving 40% credit to the 10+2 marks would be injustice to the students of non affluent family.

from:
vivek Jaiswal

Posted on: Mar 26, 2012 at 09:39 IST

Mr Aditya is not right when he says that the private classes will disappear when the system is changed. They will shift to coach the aspirants in the new system. There is coaching for I standard to the XII standard for the students of state board schools even now.
The only thing that can happen is that students will now not neglect the school lessons.

from:
Dr S.Srinivasan

Posted on: Mar 26, 2012 at 07:05 IST

its quite good if the pattern gets changed...Including reasoning , verbal etc is a better choice however students must be intimated earlier..good luck to aspirants...

from:
suji

Posted on: Mar 25, 2012 at 16:09 IST

how can any body judge your intelligence on the basis of Board marks, it only shows how great you are in mugging.

from:
Mahesh

Posted on: Mar 25, 2012 at 13:29 IST

As a matter of fact the overall procedure of IIT has become monotonous.There was definitely a need to ulter the syllabus as wel as exam pattern.Hrd min. has taken good initiative.Every radical change is obvious to face some criticism .Particularly the private classes who are making their bread & butter using typecast methods.the so called faculty federation also seems to be worried that if aptitude and reasoning be given more scope,they may loose importance to some extent.

from:
aditya

Posted on: Mar 25, 2012 at 09:56 IST

The Union Ministry can again be congratulated time and again for the additional stress by providing no line of sight on the fate of the exam. JEE itself is a stress and now students have to deal with quantifying uncertainty! JEE reform is essential but providing a complete thorough road-map to the large student community is paramount. At least students don't have to deal with uncertainty.

from:
Dheeraj

Posted on: Mar 24, 2012 at 21:53 IST

Why the 40% weightage for class XII marks ? Passing of Class XII should not even be a pre-requisite ! JEE should be thrown open to anybody who is above 15 years of age and able to perform excellently. Only a discerning filter will disperse the brightest from the bright and the somewhat bright, and amplify the differences between them just as a prism disperses white light into colours. The top institutes should pick only the best and give them the opportunity to develop themselves further and excel. If the admission criteria end up accepting the not-so-bright because of these students' ability to secure high marks in the Class XII exams (where the marking system is also less rigorous) it will spell disaster for the IITs and other esteemed institutions -- simply because, their primary boost is really the fine supply of raw material they get yearly, in terms of bright students. The proposed changes are a recipe for disaster which will be apparent in about 5 years time from now.

from:
Kumar

Posted on: Mar 24, 2012 at 21:25 IST

If MRHD is planning to have one common Entrance Exam, I hope its also taking all possible measures to have one common curriculum for all these Institutes. Having seen both, I can see why IITs have their own edge over the rest of the country. When you want to level the playing ground, level it all the way through! Maybe IITs could have something similar to MIT's OCW if that helps with faculty shortage? Maybe that would ease the pressure on kids trying to be the 3000 among 5,00,000!